HI, i did the old soapy water test and Ive located my air suspension leak down to the base of the rear passenger side shock. its leaking where the metal band tightens around the bottom. I was wandering if anyone has had luck patching one of these. If not ive heard Arnott is the place to go for replacements. Ive also heard that their re-manufactured shocks could be old worn out ones just repainted and fitted with new boots. anyone had bad experiences with these?

 

You may have seen my recent posts re air suspension issues. Don't know about repairing a leaky shock, but am now qualified to comment on two variables: Arnotts and Bagpiping Andy. My car is a 2004 XJR with 48K miles.

Arnotts: Suspected a leak because of noises and error signals on dash. Ordered a re-manufactured front shock from Arnott. It certainly has no remote similarity to an old worn out one. By all appearances, it was re-manufactured to the highest standard. Arnott shipped from 3000 miles away and it arrived on the date promised. You can telephone, as I did, and get an intelligent, personable, and helpful person. I give them the highest recommendation! The instructional videos they have are as good as they get.

BagpipingAndy: Since many members had suggested that the compressor frequently gave-out in the 40K+ mileage range, I thought that I should replace the compressor. Dealer had a rebuilt one for $1200; Arnott had a rebuilt one for 499 (same make as dealer); Bagpiping Andy had seals for $60.00. With much skepticism, I ordered the seal from Andy in Scotland (At this point, my wife looked at me as though I had surely gone around the bend.) Andy shipped the seals via the post office and they arrived in just a few days. They installed just as easily as he said they would. I also give Andy the highest recommendation.

Bottom line: Car rides like a new one! Thanks to Arnott and members of this forum, replacing the shock was so enjoyable, I'm tempted to order the other 3 after the holidays.

Best of luck with your repair.

 

Thanks for the info! I was about to order one last nite and was reading over different threads and started to wonder if the CATS system would still work with the arnott airshock . I had read a post that said it wouldn't and a few that said it would so at that point I was confused and hesitated.
But it sounds like it will ride just as good or better so I'll defiantly give them a call and keep my fingers crossed for my compressor to keep working, good to know it can be fixed for 60! My car is an 04 and is pushing 67k mi so I'll probably be replacing it ALL before long, I know they have a coil over kit but I don't wanna loose the ride/feel that this car has. For something so big it handles like a corvette

 

Catsgame,

I had a rear shock fail at about 45,000 miles. Jaguar wanted $1350 for a replacement. I had both rears replaced with Arnotts for $1650 including labor. I have put about 10,000 miles on them with no problems. Ride is excellent.

Tom

 

Interesting that I, too, started to order the coil replacements. After I posted a query about doing so on this site, I received no responses; hence, I decided to keep the air suspension. Pleased that I did. It would be good to hear from someone who made the switch.

 

We'll I ordered it today, should be here by weds. Im not driving it until I put the new one on so I don't wear out the compressor with a leaky system. It can't get here soon enough as my backup car is a minivan haha

 

I had the old one off and just as I finished, the re-built one arrived.

The T60 Star Bit will need a long lever to break it loose. I think what I used is called a breaker bar? Might be able to do it with a regular length socket wrench.

Notice on the video the use of an allen wrench in conjunction with the box wrench on one of the bolts.

I use a floor jack with jack stands. I found that a small hydraulic jack that I have had for 40 years and used 3 times, along with a block of wood, was helpful in lifting the assembly up to bolt things back together again.

 

good luck on the installation of shock... let us know how it performs...

 

We'll I did it. Unlike the car in the instruction manual Mine has the electronic e-brake caliper which completely blocks removal of the stabilizer arm bolt. After unsuccessfully trying to loosen the caliper I said to heck with it and just wrestled the old airshock out of there. It took some doing but I got it. Then came time to replace with the new one, the base seemed too wide to fit in place at first but Vaseline and wd40 , some coaxing with the floor jack and a wide vocabulary of cuss words and it was FINALLY in place. Topside in the trunk. I re connected the air line and made sure the wire clip was down in there and clicked in. I plugged back in the relay under the hood and started her up. The tail end rose up and the Air Suspension fault lite vanished. And immediately a new one appeared "Cats System Fault"..... Ahhhh. $&@$"/@! What does that mean? Ugh anyway it rides good, maybe a bit firmer but not too noticeable. Any ideas on that cats fault?? It's a remanufactured one which they told me works with cats.

 

Here are some pics I took

 

Darn, sounds frustrating. Sorry to hear that the new shock didn't remove the error message. Since I did the front left shock, I did not encounter an issue with the caliper being in the way. Should I decide to replace the rears as a precautionary measure, I will look into that.

Before I replaced the shock, I was getting 2 error messages: "Air suspension error" and a "Too low" error. With the new shock, like new ride and no error messages & have probably put 100 miles on the new shock. Exactly what does the message say on your car?

If it were me, I would call the Arnott technical support line. I did this to find out what some of the common issues were before I installed. There were none & I encountered none.

I suspect that you either disconnected the battery or the relay, or both, before you started. I don't know if disconnecting & reconnecting the battery might clear the error message, or not.

Also, I'm not sure if it would be helpful to post a new thread or not. I notice that you have had very little response which is unusual from my experience. I have reposted a couple of times on different issues with good results.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Hope you are able to resolve the issue promptly! We have guests from out of town or I would endeavor to do some Googling to help out. When they leave, I will have more time; best getting it resolved soon.

 

Well it was displaying 'air suspension fault' which was cured by installing the arnott shock. However Now it is displaying 'cats system fault'.

I suspect its either the wire connector (which i checked and seems to be ok) or the system needs to be reset. Im going to mess with it this weekend and if i cant fix it ill call arnott on monday and question them lol

 

I noticed, quite by accident, that there are two prongs in the electrical plug receptacle into the top of the shock before I was able to do any damage. Perhaps you might check yours.

This is on another thread on our forum in response to a scenario sounding like yours:

"Finally got the car to the dealer yesterday. The service manager informed me that the tech discovered the 2 pins on the top of the strut were either missing or pushed down to the point where the pigtail could not plug in fully. So as I drive home I call armory industries and they inform me that do a 100% inspection on all of these before they leave their facility. So I finally arrive home and plan to call the guy who installed the strut for me and ask him why he jammed the connector in to the point it damaged the pins. I decide to take a look myself when I arrive home. To my surprise I notice there is a red piece on the end of the pigtail on the drivers side that I don't see on the passenger side one. I look into the top of the strut and see the red plastic piece that should be on the pigtail inside the connector on the strut. I remove it with a pair of needle nose pliers and this exposes the 2 pins. I then snap the red plastic piece back onto the pigtail connector, plug it in, start the car and the code is GONE. I,m not sure how a trained jaguar mechanic misses this and I pick up on it. Good news is the cats system is now working as it should. Bad news is I still hear a rattle on that side. It seems to be at lower speeds. On to the next mystery!"

 

I have the identical problem with the Arnott's front shock absorbers. "CATS System Fault" comes and goes but mostly stays on. I pulled the code C1424 which this the left front shock open circuit (indicating an electrical connection problem). The wiring, pins etc is fine. My suspicion is that the solenoid inside the shock is marginal. Unfortunately since I am not the original purchaser of these shocks, I am not covered under their warranty even though the date on the shocks are December of 2012 - not even one year old. I have had several email exchanges with Marvin Noel from Arnott (marvin.noel@arnottinc.com) and I have to admit that he is very professional, very kind and attentive but that does not help my case. I tried to purchase just one but they would not accommodate. They sell them by the pair.

Worst case scenario for you is that you have to get another one from them under warranty. But before you do, pull the codes first to see exactly what kind of CATS problem you have and make sure it is related to the new shock you put in.

Cheers,
S.

 

Well i found it, just a little red plastic piece down in the to of the connector, i guess its ti protect the pins in transit. Plucked it out with some needle nose plier hooked it up and all is fixed. Rides like a brand new car! Thankyall for all the help

 

Congrats!!

 

can you give us some more comparison on the ride now compared to what it was?
My stock 05has 87k on it her now, and it rides decent, but there is a good amount of 'jitter' when it hits small sharp bumps, like frost heaves.
It feels like what I would normally say are shocks that are getting worn, but no idea with air shocks (if that's normal or they do wear too).

 

Thanks for the feedback, (you doubted it!!!) also I have a new compressor kit installation video coming soon!........it will be here: www.bagpipingandy.com 1800+ units sold now

best regards

Andy

 

Well i only did the right rear so im not sure how much better over the ride overall is. But i can tell you it rides a lot smother with the cats wire properly attached. Without the cats thing hooked up it rode like the tires had 90psi in them lol. It rides great now, no rattles or squeeks, tight as a drum and smooth over the bumps

 

Just installed a new compressor and two rear NEW arnott units. Pretty easy install with the mechanic.

Never had fault messages but decided to replace the originals in the back and compressor with 70k on the car.

Rode fine for the first mile or so now the right rear on all types of driving, bumps, smooth, cornering and breaking makes either a single thump or a stutter of thump/clonks. We rechecked the seating of the shock and check tightening the top bolts and bottom bolt but it does not appear to be them.

Any ideas ? is it possible the new unit is defective ?

(Arnott is not open but a phone call placed to them on Monday)